Colorado’s Amazon Law Revived by Appeals Court

NEWS NOTES

by
Sally P. Schreiber, J.D.

Published November 01, 2013

Court Decisions

The permanent injunction that a federal district court issued in March 2012 enjoining Colorado from enforcing its Amazon law requiring remote sellers to report sales in the state has been dismissed by an appeals court. The Tenth Circuit held that the Tax Injunction Act (28 U.S.C. §1341) precludes federal jurisdiction over the Direct Marketing Association’s claim that Colorado’s law requiring out-of-state retailers to report information about customers’ purchases to each customer and to the Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Direct Marketing Ass’n v. Brohl, No. 12-1175 (10th Cir. 8/20/13)).

As a result, the Tenth Circuit remanded the case to the district court to dismiss the Commerce Clause claims and lift the permanent injunction the lower court had imposed prohibiting the DOR from enforcing the law (Direct Marketing Ass’n v. Huber, No. 1:10-CV-01546-REB-CBS (D. Colo. 3/30/12)). Any further proceedings in the case must begin in Colorado’s courts or administrative agencies.